Year 6 Newsletter Autumn Term 2

Year 6 Newsletter Autumn Term 1

Year 6 Curriculum Evening Presentation

Rain was in the air, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits! We released our balloons and the whole school came to wave us off on the bus. Yes,it rained, but it stopped for the splash park. Goodbye, Year 6, we shall miss you.

Year 6 Ceilidh

Year 6 Ceilidh

Year 6 Ceilidh

Year 6 Ceilidh

What a night for What a Knight!

Year 6 took to the Torrisholme stage this week and wowed audiences with their superb acting and comic timing. A great time was had by all! Some of this talented crew are surely destined for a bright future in drama.

What a Knight!

Edinburgh Trip

The sun shone for 6T and we had a great time in this wonderful city.

Here we are at Dynamic Earth, an interactive science museum, which tells the story of our planet and its place in the universe.

Dynamic Earth

After a bus tour of the city, we arrived at Edinburgh Castle. There was lots to see here.

Edinburgh Castle

Vegetarian debate!

We enjoyed arguing reasons for and against vegetarianism.

Elizabethan Self-Portraits

We were inspired by trying on the costumes from the museum loan, so we decided to draw and paint Elizabethan self-portraits.

Elizabethan Self-Portraits

The Tempest

As part of our Treading the Boards topic, we have been looking at one of Shakespeare's last plays, The Tempest. Why was Prospero so unkind to Caliban? Here you can see us acting out a scene from the play. We like using drama to inspire us in our writing.

Prospero and Caliban #1

Prospero and Caliban #2

Prospero and Caliban #3

Letters to Prospero

These letters were inspired by our drama work on The Tempest.

Letters to Prospero

Treading the Boards

What was it like in Elizabethan times? We had an insight when we looked through our museum loan. Children were clearly a lot smaller in the sixteenth century! Here we have our smallest class members dressed as Elizabethan children; it was a bit of a tight squeeze for Jamie, Harvey, Lucy and Matty!

Trying on Elizabethan Costume

Emily's Gymnastics Success

Marvellous Medals!

Here is Emily with a great medal haul after a recent gymnastics competition. We shall be looking out for you in the Tokyo Olympics, Emily!

Nature trails with 1s

Playscripts

In English we have been looking at playscripts, with a view to writing a short scene to show the difference in class between the passengers on the Titanic. Here we are using drama to gather ideas for our writing. Can you tell which class the passengers are, from the way they speak?

Using Drama to Gather Ideas for Writing

Using Drama to Gather Ideas for Writing

Our Titanic Exhibition

Family Members Visit the Year 6 Titanic Exhibition

Preparing for the Titanic Exhibition

We are hard at work, preparing for our Titanic exhibition on the 5th May. This has been a very popular topic for Year 6 and everyone has been sharing the workload well.

The Topic Challenge

Pupils in 6T are always keen to take on a challenge! For this topic, we asked children to create a 2-D or 3-D representation of the RMS Titanic. And what a great variety of work we received! Take a look at our photographs.

The Topic Challenge

Sewing the Titanic

We have been developing our sewing skills by making a cross-stitch sampler, depicting the Titanic. We imagined that these samplers would adorn the cabins of the boat, commemorating its maiden voyage. Everyone has worked very hard on their sewing, using every available moment to finish a few more stitches! I have never had such a brilliant class of needle people! Well done, everyone.

Sewing the Titanic

Sewing Skills

Matthew's Karate Success

Matthew has been learning karate for only a few months, but he is doing very well indeed. Here he is with his Fitness Challenge Award.

Lucy's Dance Success

Lucy loves to dance and took part in a competition recently. She reached the semi-finals for modern dance and was awarded first place in ballet. Here she is with her trophy. Well done, Lucy!

Sound boxes - we enjoyed making different sounds.

History Week

The final day of History Week and every child chose an activity for the day. In Year 6 we focussed on Roman soldiers. The task was to make a costume and weapons for different soldiers: a centurion, an auxiliary archer, an aquilifer and a legionary. The children worked together in small groups to dress one of the pupils. They worked brilliantly together. Great teamwork, everyone!

Roman Week - Battle Formation!

We have been learning about how the Roman army were powerful fighters and organised. It's not really surprising that they were able to build up such a huge empire and conquer so many countries. We have been studying their fighting strategies, in particular their battle formations.

After finishing our shields, we went out into the Quad to practise the different formations in small armies.

The Orb - a defensive formation for small groups separated from the main group of soldiers.

Tithe Repel-Cavalry - a defensive formation

Roman Soldiers

The Roman Soldiers and Teams

In the afternoon we made a miniature shield and sword. We then posed with our battle faces and participated in a slow-motion battle. A great end to History Week!

A Roman Battle

History Week

Day Four of History Week and what a fun-filled day it was! In the morning we had a visit from a Roman optio (Mr Johnstone in disguise!). He gave us a really interesting talk about the role of the optio in the Roman army and how he was different to a centurion. In the photographs below you can see how the decoration on the optio's helmet is different (the brush goes from front to back, rather than side to side on a centurion's helmet).

Mr Johnstone explained some of the techniques Roman soldiers used in battle and what a difficult life it would have been for them. In one of the photos below, you can see Jamie trying to lift the armour. It is very heavy.

A big thank you to Mr Johnstone for giving up his time to come in and talk to us.

Visit From a Roman Optio

In the afternoon we made clay face pots. Experts are unsure as to the purpose of these pots, but some people think they were used in funerals and would have contained ashes.

It was quite tricky making the pots, but they have turned out rather well. Cameron was an absolute star and set a good example for us to follow. What do you think?

Making Clay Face Pots

Finished Pots

History Week

Day Three of History Week and we made our own shields, inspired by what we had seen in the Roman Army Museum. Have a look at how we got on.

Roman Army Shields

Our Finished Roman Shields

History Week

Day Two of History Week and we set off northwards to visit Hadrian's Wall. Although the wind was biting, the sun shone upon us and we had a wonderful time.

We were introduced to Vindolanda by Penny, an archaeologist. She gave an excellent talk about the excavations that have been happening at the site and the amazing discoveries that tell us so much about Roman life at this bleak outpost.

If you look at the photographs below, you can see her showing us some of the treasures that have been found. There is a leather sandal that is almost 2000 years old, beautifully preserved in the anaerobic soil of Vindolanda.

Penny also encouraged us to look at the ruins, in which we were seated, to try and guess the purpose of the building. These were the clues: coins had been found in front of a long stone shelf; a knife had been recovered and a large shoulder bone of animal. On the floor of the building there was a layout of stones that acted as drainage channels. When we examined the evidence we came to the conclusion that this building must have been a butcher's shop.

What a great insight into the life of an archaeologist!

Meeting the Archaeologist

Exploring Vindolanda

We had fun exploring the ruins of the fort and the vicus (the village outside the walls of the fort). This would have been a thriving, bustling location, with people going about their daily lives. There was a temple, a bath house, barracks and latrines, to name but a few of the buildings there.

Exploring Vindolanda

The Replica Temple at Vindolanda

Inside the Museum

After our explorations outside, we ventured into the museum to look at the hundreds of treasures that have been found at Vindolanda.

The Museum at Vindolanda

Having a Good Time at Vindolanda

The Roman Army Museum

After the obligatory visit to the gift shop and a hasty lunch, we got back on our coach to drive seven miles down the road to the Roman Army Museum. This is where we found out exactly what it would have been like to be a Roman soldier.

We had a Latin lesson from the holographic teacher and watched a 3-D film called 'Edge of Empire', which showed us how Hadrian's Wall would have looked to the Romans guarding it. The film also featured a visualisation of how Vindolanda would have been when it was inhabited by Romans.

We had a good look around the exhibits and even tried our hand at firing an archer's bow.

What a wonderful day out!

The Roman Army Museum

History Week

Our History Week got off to a great start today. We were visited by the Year 6 pupils from Skerton St. Luke's for an afternoon of history and teamwork. Mrs Green led an excellent session on timelines and chronology. The children worked together to place great moments from history on a 5-metre timeline. Not only did the afternoon test the children's historical knowledge, but it acted as a great ice-breaker and helped them get to know each other. Tomorrow we go on a joint trip to Hadrian's Wall.

Torrisholme and St. Luke's Working Together

Young Voices 2017

Picture the scene: a crowded concert venue, filled with whooping and screaming people. And that was just the teachers!

There were over 8000 children in Manchester Arena last night (9th February) for Young Voices 2017 and what a wonderful time we had. We sang our socks off and danced our hearts out (?!). The children were absolutely brilliant and represented our school superbly. A massive thank you to all the parents, grandparents and friends and family who came to support us. We hope you were bustin' out some moves too! Check out our pictures and videos to give you a flavour of the evening.

Young Voices 2017

The Best Seats in the House

Five Guys Named Moe

Birdhouse in Your Soul

The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond

Sung with gusto and some fine Scottish accents!

Rehearsing Over the Hills

Rehearsing Since You've Been Gone

Mexican Wave (with school jumpers)

The Lights Went Down...

Birdhouse in Your Soul (concert version)

For Those About to Rock....

Some great guitar playing from Matthew and Jessica. And Jake, Izzy and Freya are totally rocking it!My favourite video clip; it really makes me smile.

Hello... is Adele Here?

Our Dahlicious Dress-Up Day

Characters from Dahl

Can you guess the characters from Roald Dahl's books?

Sharing Books With Our Reading Buddies

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from 6T

Christmas Cards

Children in 6T showed off their creative flair when they made Christmas cards this week. There are some lovely examples below.

Christmas Cards

Food in World War One

Joe treated us to a superb presentation on Food in World One. He spoke confidently and knowledgeably and he even had samples for us to try. Here you can see the class tasting Parkin biscuits, bully beef and ox tongue. What an adventurous class I have! Well done everyone and a special thank you to Joe's mum for helping him organise such a brilliant presentation.

Joe's Presentation on WWI Food

Christmas circuits!🎇

We enjoyed making Christingles and learning about the symbolism of each part.

We have been learning how to spin poi. Have a look at our poi spinning routines.

Acrobatic Routines

A Team Routine

Energetic Spinning

Extremely Flexible Spinning!

A Great Display of Gymnastic Ability

A Great Routine

Maths Challenge

In this week's Maths lessons we have been learning about shape. Our challenge was to use any materials we could find, to construct eight 3-D shapes: a sphere, a tetrahedron, a cylinder, a cube, a cuboid, a square-based pyramid, a cone and a triangular prism. There was some wonderfully creative and collaborative work. Well done, everyone!

Have a look at how we got on....

Maths Challenge

The FBA Book Club Launch

The Fantastic Book Awards

Twelve pupils from Year 6 applied to participate in our Fantastic Book Awards Book Club. We meet every Wednesday to discuss the books in this year's short list and we have VERY intellectual discussions! We have six titles to read before March, when we will have the opportunity to vote on our favourite title from the list.

Here we are at the 'Champagne' Launch Party!

The FBA Book Club Launch

Hula Hooping in the Hall

Spelling News

Members of 6T are taking up the Spelling Challenge with gusto. Here are the pupils achieving their badges this week:

Class 6T in the autumn sunshine

Les Salutations

French is being taught in Year 6 for the first time. Très bien to both classes who have mastered French greetings already and are not afraid to try out a French accent!

Our first topic is Fire and Ice: The Vikings. We have not covered this topic before, so Mrs Jones and I are as excited about it as the children are! Our English lessons are linked to VikingBoy by Tony Bradman and it is already proving to be a hit with the children. It does not hold back on the gore! Well, it does say 'Blood. Fire. Vengeance' on the cover.

I'm looking forward to a happy and successful year with my new class. They have already settled to work well and I know they will be brilliant. If you are in 6T and have any ideas for our class page, let me know.

Remember to start working on your artefacts for the Topic Challenge. Some children have already brought in their items to school; you can see photos below.

More Viking Artefacts for our Topic Challenge

The Topic Challenge

Our young Vikings have been busy in the 'forge', making more artefacts! We now have enough shields to go on our own Viking raid!

Faye has made a runestone and Emily and Lucy have made some Viking jewellery.

Well done to Blake. He made a longhouse with Lego inhabitants!

We hope you enjoy our Power Point Presentations about online safety. Please discuss the SMART rules at home.

In Science we designed and tested super seeds that would glide or spin away from the parent plant..

Music - Viking Saga Songs

In Music this half term🤗, we are learning Viking Saga songs. In today's lesson we have learnt our first song, a cheeky number called 'Loki the Joker' about Thor's mischievous brother, Loki. We have learnt the song very quickly and have been practising an accompaniment using tuned and untuned instruments. This is our first performance. We hope you enjoy it!

'Loki the Joker' - Viking Saga Songs

The Topic Challenge

Harvey shows off the spear he made. He thinks that it could be used as a spear for hunting fish.

Will has made a Viking shield. It is incredibly heavy; I don't know how I'm going to display it. I might need reinforced steel cables...

Matty and Jake have made a bow and arrow. I like the way that they have sharpened the arrow head and given it some flights made from grass. Super work everyone!

Matthew has made a fine longship. Look at the incredible detail he has put into it.

Amelia's shield looks fit for battle and Callum has made an excellent hunting spear. Well done!